Footprint Network Blog

Carbon dioxide is emitted whenever human activities involve the burning of fossil fuels. This waste will accumulate in the atmosphere, contributing to global climate change, unless it can be captured and stored by plants. The carbon Footprint therefore measures the demand on biocapacity that results from burning fossil fuels in terms of the amount of forest area required to sequester these carbon dioxide emissions. Note that this does not suggest planting forests is the ‘solution’ to climate change; on the contrary, it shows that the biosphere does not have sufficient capacity to sequester all the carbon we are currently emitting.

The Premier of South Australia, Hon Mike Rann has sought to bring ‘Ecological Footprint’ thinking to the core of decision-making, by including the Ecological Footprint as a key sustainability indicator in South Australia’s Strategic Plan. The Plan establishes a target to reduce South Australia’s Ecological Footprint by 30% by 2050.

The 2007 edition of the plan also seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 60% by 2050. Greenhouse gas emissions make up more than half of South Australia’s Ecological Footprint and the aggressive reduction target has been approved by the legislature.

The report calculates that if everyone in the world consumed natural resources and generated carbon dioxide at the rate of Scotlanders, we would need three planets to support us. It concludes that Scotland needs to reduce its Footprint by 75% by 2050 in order to live within the planet’s resources, and that this cut can be achieved through more efficient products and better, less wasteful, consumption.